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Summary

Description

GATE LODGE: mid-19th century. Single-storey and attic, irregular-plan, picturesque gate lodge with deep bracketed eaves and T-braced, finialled gables. Roughly squared, snecked rubble with droved yellow sandstone ashlar dressings. Base course. Some long and short quoins; some dimpled rusticated quoins. Tabbed, polished ashlar window margins with projecting cills. 3-bay principal (Avenue) elevation with non-traditional door in plain architrave at centre; bowed right bay with gatepier attached to centre, corbelled out to attic gable; left bay with tripartite, stone-mullioned window and 3-light, flat-roofed dormer. Side (Roadhead) elevation with tripartite window at ground and attic window above. Irregular fenestration to rear.

Non-traditional small-pane timber windows. Grey slate roof with metal ridges. Coped, rendered stack with circular buff clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

GATEPIERS: Mid-19th century. 4 square-plan, corniced gatepiers, the inner piers supporting obelisks resting on corner balls, the northernmost outer one attached to bow of gate lodge. Yellow sandstone ashlar with dimpled rusticated quoins.

WAR MEMORIAL: James B Dunn, 1921. 6.5m stone cenotaph with wide approach steps and plinth supporting bronze statue of 'Spirit of Youth Triumphing over Evil' by Alexander Leslie. Flanking bronze double lanterns.

BOER WAR MEMORIAL: J N Scott & A Lorne Campbell; statue by William Birnie Rhind (see NOTES). Large, distinctive, stone war memorial with battered pedestal with banded rustication to corners, surmounted by statue of standing soldier in battle dress holding rifle. Square-plan plinth; concave chamfered base; pedestal with inscription plaques to each face and decorative curvilinear and floral carving to upper stage.

FOUNTAIN: 1896. McDowell, Steven & Co, Milton Ironworks, Glasgow. Silver-painted, cast-iron, 2-tiered fountain set in 3-stepped circular basin. Decorative lower pedestal with putti, dolphins and turtle water spouts; fluted shallow basin above. Further, smaller, decorative pedestal above, surmounted by shallow basin. Otter figure with fish in mouth at apex. Plaque to top tier of basin engraved with 'THIS FOUNTAIN WAS BEQUEATHED TO THE BURGH BY GILBERT DAVIDSON ESQ. BANKER IN HAWICK 1896'.

MACNEE DRINKING FOUNTAIN: 1906. Ornamental, grey granite, square-plan memorial drinking fountain. Deep plinth with centrally placed oval column with inscription (see NOTES) surrounded by 4 smaller corner columns. Surmounted by coping stone with small dome above and finial to apex. Metal drinking bowl and spout with granite water bowl beneath to N side.

HENDERSON SHELTER: 1930. Rectangular-plan, open-frame, timber seating shelter with shallow piended roof with swept eaves and with decorative ridge with scrolled finials. Tongue and groove boarding to lower sections with integral timber benches.

Statement of Special Interest

A number of structures that make a significant contribution to Wilton Park, originally a private estate but which became a public park after being purchased from the Pringle family by the Town Council in 1889 for £14,000. It is an unusually extensive municipal park in relation to the relatively modest size of the burgh of Hawick.

The mid-19th-century gate lodge and gatepiers form a picturesque entrance to the park, and are particularly distinctive for their decorative dimpled quoins. They are situated at the eastern extremity of the park, at the terminus of the long 'Avenue' which was created by James Anderson of Wilton Lodge in 1810. The west extension (to the left of the principal elevation) appears to have been added - in materials matching the original parts - in the earlier 20th century; it is not shown on any maps up to and including the 1938 amendments to the 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map (1917).

The War Memorial (map ref: NT 49286 14564) was unveiled in October 1921 by the Secretary of State, Robert Munro. The figure sculpture had previously been exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Doddington stone memorial was designed to support it.

The Boer War Memorial (map ref: NT 49129 14159), which commemorates men who were killed in the South African War of 1899-1902, was unveiled in 1903 by Lord Roberts, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. The occasion was a large one, with several thousand attending. The inscription tablets name those who died, together with information about the erection of the monument. William Birnie Rhind (1853-1933) designed some of the best-known military memorials in Scotland and was also a distinguished architectural sculptor. Scott and Campbell were an Edinburgh architectural firm practising from 1898 to 1915.

The Fountain of 1896 (map ref: NT 49325 14526) was made by McDowell, Steven & Co, a prominent firm of iron founders based in Glasgow whose work included fountains, bandstands and decorative garden seats. The company was established as McDowell, Steven & Co in 1862 and operated until 1930.

The MacNee drinking fountain (map ref: NT 49197 14127) was erected in 1906 by public subscription in memory of George Fraser MacNee, who was a prominent local figure. The inscription reads: 'ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE FRASER MACNEE IN RECOGNITION OF HIS DEVOTION TO HIS NATIVE TOWN. BORN 3RD NOVEMBER 1863. DIED 25TH JANUARY 1905. "IN LOVE OF HOME THE LOVE OF COUNTRY TAKES ITS RISE" DICKENS'

The Henderson Shelter (map ref: NT 49400 14611) is also known as 'Chinese Shelter', and was presented by the sister of James Henderson, Mrs Mark Currie.

Hawick Museum is listed separately together with the park boundary walls.

References

Bibliography

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